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SYNOPSIS Vienna, 2001. CARLA, an Austrian woman in her late twenties and bulimic, became pregnant unintentionally and lives as a single mother under very precarious cir- cumstances. She struggles to have the strength to take responsibility - financially and psychologically - for the baby. While searching for the child’s father, Carla meets in her former favorite karaoke bar a non-binary person from Argentina who is dressed as an ASTRONAUT. The two social outcasts establish a closeness in a short time that some people cannot achieve in years in a confined space. The encounter with the Astronaut gives Carla a new per- spective on her reality and the courage to make the most important decision of her life. DIRECTOR’S MARIANO CABACO NOTES The human brain automatically organizes people and things into categories to make the world easier to understand for themselves. Discrimination, misunderstandings and fears are mostly the result of this. ASTRONAUTS deals with questions that are drastic and still hard to make for women today. When the external circumstances are precarious, a lot of feelings of guilt come up when having a child. The first baby hatch was launched in Vienna in 2001 to help parents in such hopeless situations. Being able to bring your child to such a safe place, where they are well looked after, is an important socio-political and women’s rights achievement that is just as important today as it was 20 years ago. Two strangers from different cultures meet in absurd circumstances - a Karaoke Bar in Vienna-, as out- casts of society. But their cultural differences give them the space to change their perspective on their personal realities. Their initially bumpy conversation gradually develops into a mutual deep understand- ing of the importance of accepting oneself independently of social norms, judgments and conventions. This encounter turns the two into accomplices in the confrontation with the volatility of existence. CAST CARLA Suzie Léger ASTRONAUT Mariano Cabaco BABY Noah Menclik BARTENDER Robert Binder HOTDOG BOOTH EMPLOYEE Peter Esterwitsch MAN AT HOTDOG BOOTH Rudolf Krenn WOMAN 1 AT HOTDOG BOOTH Hedwig Thuner WOMAN 2 AT HOTDOG BOOTH Heidemarie Manzl CYCLIST Laura Kralik EXTRAS Ulrike Kreuzer Lily Fassl Julia Klein Dorothea Kercz SUZIE LÉGER Suzie is an Austrian-Canadian actress, artist and punk rock singer. She studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting Conservatory program and at the Susan Batson Studio with the renowned act- ing coach herself, both in New York. In ASTRONAUTS, Suzie plays her first leading role, travelling on the challenging journey of Carla. Suzie is also the founder of production hub AT- ELIER ORLANDO and the front woman of the American punk rock band WHAT WOULD TILDA SWINTON DO. Her awards and prizes include the Ö1 talent award, the START grant from the Austrian chancellery, the main prize of the Rus- sian Videoart Festival Now and After, the prize for best short in the category “Gender construc- tions” at the Vienna Women’s Film Festival, the Young Female Artist prize of Bildrecht GmbH. Currently, Suzie is working on several projects. Among them, she plays the leading role in a Brazilian-German Independent film, and is pro- ducing a TV show about the extinguished fe- male artists in the women’s movement at the turn of the century. CARLA MARIANO CABACO Mariano was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he studied Theatre and Art History. He then moved to Paris where he reconnect- ed with his passion for Film and decided to start his studies in Film Making in Prague. Mariano also participated in several projects as an Art Director. And this is his third job as a director after the multi awarded short film SONNTAG. After a long time without performing, Mariano went to New York where he took classes with Susan Batson and he decided to join this adventure also giving life to the chal- lenging role of the ASTRONAUT. He is currently working on the development of the script of his debut feature film. ASTRONAUT WRITERS MARIANO CABACO & SUZIE LÉGER Suzie and Mariano met at the Susan Batson For them, it was important to show through Studio of Acting in New York in the begin- the story, how communication between two ning of 2020 and decided to work together. people can work despite the absence of a Both of them wanted to create a project that common language. reflects the big topics of gender identity, feminism and cultural disparities narrated in Even a quick encounter - that lasts only for a a personal story. It’s the first film that Suzie few minutes- with a complete stranger can has written and Mariano’s 4th one. change your life 180 degrees. Both characters are outsiders and become accomplices in After Mariano left New York, they continued the confrontation with the volatility of ex- writing on ASTRONAUTS from different con- istence, but their cultural differences bring tinents and eventually met up again in Austria them the space and courage to change their for the film shoot with a completely interna- perspective on their personal realities. tional film team. CINEMATOGRAPHY HANS SELIKOVSKY Mag. Johann Selikovsky’s worked on over 300 MA DU RÉEL in Paris, among others. Johan Se- films, TV series and documentaries including likovsky produced Ulrich Seidl’s debut film Good collaborations with Falco, Queen and the Rolling News, was voted one of the 10 best documenta- Stones. He was nominated for a GOLDEN GLOBE, ries worldwide by the festival management under won the PRIX DES BIBLIOTHEQUES, GOLDEN Werner Herzog at the International Documentary CAMERA AWARD, and the main prize at the CINÉ- Film Festival Amsterdam. PRODUCTION DESIGN MIMI VIOLETTE & BEN SASSON Mimi and Ben are an artist-couple with experience been part of the design team of Xavier Dolan’s THE in art direction, photography, production, props LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHN F DONOVAN with Kit and graphic design for low to high budget projects. Harrington (GAME OF THRONES), Jessica Chastain Between the both of them they have done design and Natalie Portman. work notable on SPIDERMAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019), on Ron Howard’s National Geographic Besides the work in their film industry, that TV series, GENIUS (2017), with Jeffrey Rush and is a full-time father, plus a consultant of Art Emily Watson... Also on the series BRITTANIA Direction to rising film students. Mimi is a featuring Kelly Reilly (TRUE DETECTIVE) and David professor of Art Direction at Prague Film Morrisey (THE WALKING DEAD), and on Lee Tama- School and the Film Academy of Miroslav hori’s EMPEROR with Adrian Brody. Mimi has also Ondricek in Pisek (FAMO)since 2011. SOUND PETAR MRDJEN Petar is a Serbian - Swedish sound maker. He composes for film and theatre, notably Playdurizm (2020), T.E.A.R’s (2018) and in collaboration with Mariano Cabaco on his previous short Sonntag (2019). He performs under the musical projects Insert/Airtime, and Polyethylentereftalát. EDITING MIGUEL LOMANA Miguel works as a film and video editor established since 2018 in Barcelona. Before that, he studied Audiovisual Communication in Bilbao and completed a Film Editing Postgraduate course at the Uni- versitat Pompeu Fabra. he has worked as an assistant editor for various music videos, advertisments and two feature-documentaries. ASTROUNAUTS is his first fiction project as a film editor. SPECS SPECIFICATIONS TITLE SCREENING FORMAT ASTRONAUTS 4:3 PRODUCTION COMPANY ASPECT RATIO ATELIER ORLANDO 1:2,38 RUNNING TIME SOUND 18:04 STEREO, LINEAR PCM, 48KHZ 24 BIT SHOOTING FORMAT ARRI ALEXA 2,5 K COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION AUSTRIA YEAR 2021 LANGUAGE GERMAN AND SPANISH SUBTITLES ENGLISH, SPANISH FRENCH ATELIER ORLANDO Founded in 2020 by Suzie Léger, the production company is named after the gender-fluid, superhuman heroine of Virginia Woolf’s famous novel, which paved the way for a rethinking of gender identity and feminism. ATELIER ORLANDO works trans- national and focuses on stories that break cultural habits of artistic expressions. Projects that offer innovative perspectives on social norms across countries and continents are sought and presented to the audience in the form of entertainment. We specialize in stories about women and the LGBTQ + community. CONTACT ATELIER ORLANDO Gentzgasse 2/8, 1180 Vienna, Austria https://atelierorlando.com [email protected] Phone: 00436707731471.